Kendrick SZN.
Kendrick Lamar has been on a serious promo run since the release of his latest single “i”, visiting DJ Whoo Kid in his most recent interview. Their conversation covered a variety of topics including being influenced and collaborating with George Clinton and Ronald Isley, the latter of whom provides ad-libs on “i” and cameos in the song’s video, which samples The Isley Brothers‘ classic “Who’s That Lady”.
Early on in their conversation they spoke on Drake, who collaborated with Kendrick on the single “Poetic Justice” from his debut album Good Kid, M.A.A.d. City, but have since been at ends following his infamous “calling out” of the Toronto artist on his verse on Big Sean‘s “Control”. As far as any future collaborations with the OVO stalwart, Kendrick said “We come from two different worlds, two different backgrounds.” “I really don’t see that playing out as entertaining. Maybe to the people listening, but not for myself.”
Kendrick went on to talk about the current state of Hip Hop music:
The state of Hip Hop is wild. It’s in a place where creativity is at a stagnant point, I feel personally. There’s a lot of records that I do enjoy, but at the same time it gets to a space where it look like we just stuck now. They ain’t giving us our respect because they feel that we ain’t out here representing the foundation of saying what you wanna say and how you feel rather than just listening to what the next man saying and what’s hot on the radio. Hip Hop was built on originality.
He later talks about what to expect — or more specifically what not to expect from his upcoming, yet-to-named album. “Don’t expect nothing. Don’t expect anything. It’s just creativity, man. That’s life,” he explained. “I’m just in a space where I’m only doing things that I like. It’s very selfish. But I’ve done that with my mixtapes, I’ve done that with my debut, it’s just something I’m gonna continue to do. This is where my inspiration is drawn from.”
Enjoy the full interview above.
Khari Clarke thinks truer words have yet to be spoken. Tweet him, (@KINGCLARKEIII).
